Wegzeit / Journey Time

Copyright: EUREGIO

Cultures of commuting:
Four guided tour routes focused on the culture, character, history and stories of Mühlviertel.

What connects the residents of Upper Austria’s Mühlviertel with Linz, the Capital of Culture? The answer is commuting, since about two-thirds of the region’s workforce commute to work every day in Linz, whereas weekend outings take many citydwellers out to the Mühlviertel’s rolling hills and the banks of the beautiful blue Danube. JOURNEY TIME developed guided tours along four routes that let tourists see and experience this region in sensory, historical and mystical ways.

Route 1 had Mauthausen as its focus; with great sensitivity, it shed light on one of the darkest chapters in Mühlviertel’s history. Route 2 began in Linz and followed the Mühlkreis railway line as a mode of commuting with all the senses switched on. Route 3 mapped a literary journey along the Romantic Road to Grein. And the fictional and non-fictional stories of author Walter Kohl made Route 4 in and around Freistadt a special treat for travelers along the highways of the mind. All four tour guides are natives of Mühlviertel and experienced in philosophy, history, literature and imparting an appreciation of culture. This was an ideal approach to mediating each tour group’s encounter with the region’s complexly interwoven fabric of mysticism, art and history.

In 2010, Route 1 will continue to be offered by JOURNEY TIME in conjunction with the “Against Violence and Racism” commemorative day. Plans are currently in the making for new tours: one having to do with the “Mühlviertler Hasenjagd” hunt for concentration camp escapees, and another tracing the route prisoners took from the Mauthausen Train Station up to the Nazi concentration camp. Information will be posted online in Spring 2010 at www.zeitgehschichten.at.

WHAT // Daytrips to Mühlviertel
WHEN // February-September 2009
WHERE // Mühlviertel